Tomb Raider, Dawn of Legend
by Topaz Ingenious
Summary: After the island, Lara has made it her solemn vow to prove to the world that there are things out there that need to be explained, and finish where her Father failed. Tasked with surviving the frozen clutches of Siberia, she encounters a militaristic cult that's been chasing her, and hinder her from finding Kitezh. M for Language, Violence, Blood, and the Supernatural.
1. Part One - Once In A Cold Night

**I felt a rewrite was in order for the Tomb Raider story I was previously doing. Noticed how different my Lara was compared to the games, and didn't think it was necessary to make her as spazzy as she was. It still will focus on dark themes, just that people won't spazz out like before. Anyway, enjoy! This is a little tease of the rest of the story.**

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The environment is bleak with a whistle cutting through the icy wind. The trees swing in the air as the larger ones hold firm against this phenomenon; the wildlife in hiding and trying to stay warm. The exception being the wolves and bears, they roam the winter wonderland freely with the only people inhabiting this wilderness are an unknown evil, reconstructing the wilderness into some technological hideout. As the frost grows and the wildlife thrives on what unfortunate food lies, a woman emerges from the snow, panting for air and frozen to the bone. That avalanche earlier washed her away from her friend Jonah, derailing their intended plans. As Lara stands to her feet and crosses her arms, shivering savagely, she hears her walkie-talkie go off, but with some static. "Lara! Lara!?" Jonah shouts, frightened. Lara can barely hear it through the sound of the intense blizzard, and she feels it vibrate. "Jonah?"

"Lara! Thank God!"

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. But you were the one that got washed away in the avalanche."

Lara looks up to where she started, and notices how far she was tossed and turned in the snow. Her face, uncovered, is the most affected as a product of the snow, and she can barely talk straight without chattering her teeth. "Lara, what now?"

Lara takes some deep breaths and continues. The ice flowing through her veins and her eyes frozen open. "Go back to camp. Don't come looking for me."

"But what about the city?"

"Forget about it for now. I don't want you to get hurt out there. Keep this channel open."

Jonah talks through the comms, but the static is starting to intensify, and after a couple of seconds, Lara latches it back in place where it was before. Knee-deep in snow, Lara looks around her and shudders from both the cold and the task ahead of her; however, she doesn't know what to do yet. _What am I going to do?_ She thinks. _I hate to do this myself._ The blizzard blasts her with relentless ferocity, and she puts her goggles back on; noticing it was blown off in the avalanche, and she can barely see through the storm. _Shit._ She thinks. She holds her arm over her face to block some of the snow, and she continues on her trek. She trudges through the mass of snow and she hears howls in the distance. _Wolves Lots of them._ She also hears some gunshots that accompany the wolves' notes of warning. She only has a pickaxe and her wits to battle a pack of wolves, if they should come. _First thing's first: Food and shelter._ She sees some branches blown off their respective trees, and she gets an idea. _Got it._ As she continues to gather branches, she hears the howls again, and some snarls nearby. The call of warning is about to drown out, and sooner or later, it'll be time to feast. Lara's audible shivering, which aggrandizes with each passing second with the more exposure to the cold she gets. Even when or if she builds her shelter, the wolves will hear her. So will anyone else. She collapses onto the ground from the exhaustion of exertion, and the snow sticking to her skin, dropping the branches she's carrying. _Damn this cold._ She thinks. A couple of seconds later on the ground, she hears snarls of the wolves. As she hears them come closer, she grits her teeth and braces for the worst.


	2. The Attack Begins

Lara sees the glint of a wolf's eye in the distance, reflecting from the moonlight. The snow begins to blow even more now, and with the archaeologist knee-deep in snow, there's little she can do. The wolf slowly makes his way to its possible victim, and Lara looks at her branches and readies her grip on her axe. With every moment that it comes closer, Lara's adrenaline builds up and fear strikes her soul. The hair on her neck stands on edge as her eyes invoke a sense of power, but in the core of her irises, they dilate with terror. And as the wolf comes closer, two more show up. All sense of power and dominance Lara showed gradually diminish. The ferocious animals snarl angrily, and Lara looks around her, examining her odds, and how they're stacked against her. The chill down Lara's spine begins to sharpen, and as one wolf readies to pounce, she has to move quick. Lara takes some fast breaths, like someone would do to prepare themselves to take a knife out of their abdomen, as well as she can breathe right now with the shivering.

Of course, it's a win-lose situation both ways, since the wolves are in deep in the snow, as well. But the beast that's ready to pounce is a few inches away from the deep-end of the snow, with his back legs planted firmly on the other side, where the snow is less prominent. Still a good few feet away. However, these wolves have long legs, so they still could pounce at her, but Lara is at a disadvantage. Armed with only a pickaxe as the wolves have help and sharp teeth with claws to match.

All of a sudden, Lara's chance to contemplate her actions is over as a wolf pounces her way. She dives into the snow to duck as other wolves come her way. _Must be the pack leader,_ she thinks.

Lara tries to move and get some distance between her and some of the wolves, but one almost knicks the temple of her head with their teeth.

 _Oh shit._ She doesn't have time to assess the damage, but she knows she just saved herself. The Pack Leader is a little bigger than the others, so he's the one that's making most of the impact. Lara gets her axe and swings at a wolf as it lunges towards her, but it knocks her down before she can swing at it. The wolf snaps his teeth and barks in Lara's face, trying to maul her as Lara has an axe against its throat. If she were to reach for her other axe, it'd be too much strength to exert since she needs it to keep this wolf at bay, and the other beast and the Pack Leader are circling Lara, waiting for their chance at the meal. Her axe is a couple inches away from her, but with the shivering and the quivering of her muscles, she's at a disadvantage.

She tries to hit the wolf off of her and it only makes it madder, acting with more force. The victim's ears are starting to freeze, as ice builds up around her.

 _Damn it Lara, do something!_

Her strength is starting to wane, and as the wolf begins to get closer and closer to Lara's face, she uses what vigor she has to try and position her axe upwards where the attacker's mouth is, shove it up as hard she can, grab her axe and stab the wolf right in the eye as the blood drops down. Her ear was nicked again as she tried to retrieve her weapon, but the beast faceplanted into the snow, missing the face. _You're not done yet._ She thinks.

 _Think Lara, think!_

As the beast tries to focus, the Pack Leader lunges towards Lara and tries to bite into her chest, and actually makes it in. She screams and when the wolf goes in for another bite, she jabs her axe into the beast's hide. This one's a little tougher though. It's a grueling battle and as the cold dwindles slowly, the blizzard has slowed to a mere breeze; yet, it's every bit as cruel.

The wolf struck in the eye was stabbed in the other eye, and eventually gave into the pain and died out. Lara's walkie-talkie statically whirs to life for a brief second, and then dies out again. _Must've been Jonah._ Thinks Lara. The other wolf has a gash in its back left calf, and the Pack leader has little to lethal injuries, whereas Lara is bleeding out and exhausting her energy. More gunshots are fired and the wolves are alerted to the sound. They look in the direction and Lara has a short window to act on the distraction. She has to decide which beast she wants to strike first, and what would be the consequence of it.

 _Hunters? Will they be hunting for wolves? Or me?_ Lara can't help but feel cautious and afraid in the midst of all this.

 _I'm bleeding out. Shit, not like this._

Lara grits her teeth to strike again, but the cuts and the wounds are too much for her. Her legs wobble and after such a long day of climbing a mountain and now this.

 _So tired. So...weak._

Lara's time window is running out, and the wolves will soon return their attention back to her. The blizzard picks up again and the Archaeologist, or rather, victim, is beginning to weaken even more. The howls of the distant and near wolves grow, but are suddenly interrupted by the recent gunshots. But the final shot was something different as a red flare lit up the dark, brisk, night sky. The wolves leaves the vicinity Lara is in, and as the mutts leave, Lara has a thought in her mind before she succumbs to sleep.

 _Trinity._

She tries to keep her eyes open so she won't sink into darkness, the comfort of rest, and give in to her injuries.

 _Just for a while.._

She stares at the snow falling down, touching her face, sending chills through her nerve endings, and it makes her shiver. The blood slides down her chest, up and down the little creases of her shirt, and down to the ground, stopping in the opening of the snow Lara's body made. Her branches she had gathered and dropped earlier are still there, and the eye gouged wolf lies beside her. This isn't the mini camp Lara had in mind, being cocooned in wood, and sleeping on a bed of snow.

 _No, I have to keep moving._

By the time Lara decides to get back up, she hears people shouting. "They went through here! C'mon!"

 _Shit._

The Archaeologist flops down to the snow on her side, covering her face with her gloved hands. The group of men come by, three of them. Armed with machine guns. They see a woman on the ground and the wolf next to her, and then they see her climbing axes. "Lookie here!"

Lara couldn't have escaped in time because of being knee-deep in snow, and she'd most likely be shot. "We have military-grade tech, what makes you think we should use someone's climbing axes?"

"We'll find a use for 'em."

They take the axes off and balance them, and they're pretty impressed by how light the axes are; similarly, very sharp, too. Testing the axes on a nearby tree. "Damn, where'd she get these?"

"No clue, but we're keeping these."

The soldiers' walkie-talkies sound off with someone on the other side calling them. "The Remnant set up a trap at our Supply Depot. You're needed back."

"We're on our way." Answers a soldier, and they go on their way. But one soldier stays back, examining the body, wondering if it's still alive or not. What arranges such mystery is the fact that the body is still shivering.

"Hey guys, wait a sec." He points out.

The soldiers turn back and face the one left behind and one asks him. "What is it? We gotta get back to base."

"This body,"

He kicks it a few times and sees the trail of blood from the wounds inflicted by the wolves. "I think it's still alive."

The soldiers regroup and the confused man and he kneels down next to the body, checking the pulse on her neck. "Still beating. Quickly."

He stands back up and remarks. "At this rate, she'll be dead in a couple of minutes. If not from the wounds, then the cold. Let her be."

He turns to the other soldiers and adds. "Let's see about this Supply Depot."

Despite being covered in snow, Lara was able to barely survive. Her pulse briskly beating, still trying to fight to stay alive.

 _They're gone Lara. Get up._

Thoughts race through her head about what she would've done to those soldiers given what chance she would've had to retrieve her climbing axes. But what is she to do? She's too wounded and the cold is starting to become a life-threatening issue.

 _What am I supposed to do?_

Lara turns to the wolf she killed and thinks of using its hide for something to staunch some of the bloodflow. WIthout her axes though, she has to think of another method. She turns to the branches she had carried, and strides her way towards them. She sees more blood trickling down from her wounds, and some from the bite marks on her chest, dripping down as she leans forward.

 _Oh God…_

She can barely make it to the branches, but halfway there, the temperature seems to drop at an alarming rate, and Lara's motor skills can hardly fight through it. She looks around for something to use.

 _A cave. I need...a cave._

She sees one nearby, probably one where the wolves holed up.

 _Damn. I don't have a choice right now._

Wolves bark in the far distance, too far away for Lara's concern, so she should be in the clear….for now.

Seconds later, the barking is accompanied by a yelp, and then something ominous. Striking through the brisk, stridulous cold; like a cut through the heart. It can only be heard is you listen _very_ carefully since it's so far away, but once you hear it, it's all that'll be in your head. And in Lara's state, that's the last thing she needs. The roar of a grizzly bear.

 _What the hell is that?_

Lara hears her walkie-talkie static to life, and when it fades, she asks shiveringly, frightened. "J-J-Jonah?"

She hears more static, and still no response. She tries again and waits for something, anything. She hears a faint voice for a brief second, but then static. "JONAH!" She yells, too loudly. Though it was for nothing as the battery dies. It takes a minute for her to realize that and her blood would boil with frustration if it weren't so frozen; regardless, she's still pissed.

 _Shit._

She puts the walkie-talkie back into her back pocket, and thinks.

 _Please be okay Jonah. For my sake. Again._

She eventually makes it to the cave, more exhausted than she was before, and begins to slowly thaw in the warmth of the cave, descending deeper, using the walls as a support. She smiles slightly as the bitter, black night gradually wears off. She takes out her glowstick to light the way in the black and finds a place to slide down onto the ground, and slowly lies on her back, rolling onto her side, wincing.

 _You're safe now, Lara. Okay? You're safe. I hope._

She hears the sound of the shrieking wind outside coming to a whisper almost, and after a while, the howls of the wolves dies down as well. It's still strikingly cold in the cave, but offers some warmth, at least; unlike the cold outside, that is.

As Lara tries to relax to go to sleep, thoughts rush through her mind and keep her awake, fearing what could come in here or what'll happen to Jonah.

 _Jonah… God, I hope you're still out there, not being attacked by some wolves or God knows what else. Just be careful. I don't want to risk losing someone else again._

As she tries to sleep, the sound of the wind outside keeps her awake and the terror of what atrocity could come into this cave terrifies her. She can still hear the cacophonous clamor of the bear, and it makes her writhe like the ice never could. She may seem weak now, but deep inside, still lies the steel determination and perseverance of an adventurer, hanging onto her sanity like it's her life-line.

She decides to go deeper into the cave, and as she feels she's finally made herself comfortable in her new shelter, she contemplates the moves she'll have to make once the storm has died down and her wounds have healed, and how she's supposed to survive. Though it'll only keep her awake, she can't stop thinking about it.

 _Try not to think about it too hard Lara. You need to rest. For now._


End file.
